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Citizens urged to celebrate Freedom Month

Pretoria - Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has encouraged South Africans to use the celebrations of Freedom Month to strengthen solidarity, tolerance, national identity and social cohesion.

South Africa will commemorate the 2016 Freedom Day celebrations on 27 April at Giyani Stadium, Limpopo, under the theme, ‘Together Building Better Communities – Local Government is Everybody’s Business’.

Freedom Month celebrates the historic occasion in 1994 when South Africa achieved democracy, where all its citizens became free from racial discrimination and oppression. The first democratic elections were held on 27 April 1994.

“This year, Freedom Month will seek to reflect on how South Africa achieved its freedom and democracy, the 20 years of our Constitution, the progress made in the past 22 years as well as how South Africans should work together to implement the National Development Plan (NDP),” the Department of Arts and Culture said in a statement on Wednesday.

This year’s Freedom Month coincides with the year of local government elections, which represent the right to choose who they want to lead their local government.

Events to mark Freedom Month

The Department of Arts and Culture and other government departments have an exciting programme of activities for the month of April.

Some of the activities include lectures on freedom, democracy and responsible citizenship on 21, 23 and 26 April.

The lectures will be hosted by the Department of Arts and Culture at Umthombo Building – Umthombo 1 at the Wits University in Johannesburg; the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Theatre and the University of Venda in Limpopo respectively.

On Thursday, Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi will hoist the National Flag Muthuhadini Combined School in Elim and engage with schools, hospitals, an old age home, correctional service centres and households to encourage them to read for leisure and to donate books. This is part of World Book Day pre-event activity. The Deputy Minister will also utilise the event to speak about Freedom Month.

Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi will speak on World Book Day on 22 April at Moses Mabotha Civic Hall in the Fetakgomo Municipality in Sekhukhune, Limpopo.

The Deputy Minster will also on Tuesday attend the launch of Braille National Symbols Project at Filadelfia Secondary School in Pretoria.

She will hoist the National Flag at Nkoa-Nkoa Primary School, Tzaneen, Limpopo. The event is part of the Department of Arts and Culture’s “Flag in every School”project that aims to educate learners and citizens about nation building and social cohesion.

The department will host African World Heritage Regional Youth Forum from 28 April to 4 May 2016 at Robben Island Museum in partnership with the African World Heritage Fund and UNESCO World Heritage Centre. – SAnews.gov.za

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